United States v. Twin Oaks Mobile Home Park, Inc. (W.D. Wis.)

Overview:

On December 17, 2015, the court entered a consent decree in United States v. Twin Oaks Mobile Home Park (W.D. Wis.), a pattern or practice/election case alleging discrimination on the basis of familial status in violation of the Fair Housing Act. The complaint, filed on October 17, 2014, alleged that the owner and managers of a 230-unit mobile home community in Whitewater, Wisconsin enforced explicit policies making sections of the community unavailable to families with children, imposed discriminatory limitations on children and their families, and obstructed the sale of a mobile home to a single mother with a two-year-old child. The consent decree requires the defendants to: pay monetary damages of $100,000, including cash payments to two identified victims; establish a fund to compensate unidentified victims; provide credits to complainants to eliminate all back rent allegedly due; and pay a $10,000 civil penalty. In addition, the defendants agreed to standard injunctive relief, renounce lease clauses that referred to their discriminatory practices, modified their lot map to remove barriers to families, and paid the cost of restoring utility service to one complainant, after the defendants’ actions allegedly caused damage to her utility connections. Further, the settlement requires the defendants to permit the sale of a mobile home to a single mother and to approve her lease at a lot previously designated as off-limits to children. The case was referred to the Division after the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) received complaints conducted an investigation, and issued a charge of discrimination.